Nurse Bags Death Sentence For Illegal Abortion

A Kenyan nurse has been sentenced to death after being found guilty of performing an abortion five years ago on a woman who later bled to death. Abortions are illegal in Kenya, but doctors are allowed to carry it out if a woman's life is in danger.

Witnesses told the high court that the nurse, Jackson Namunya Tali, had agreed to help the woman, Christine Atieno, who wanted to terminated her early pregnancy.

But Tali said Ms Atieno had sought help after a botched abortion elsewhere.

Thousands of women in Kenya are treated each year for complications arising from unsafe abortions. A 2012 survey put the figure at 120,000.

The court heard that Ms Atieno had died in Tali's vehicle as he was taking her from the clinic in Gachie, 15km (nine miles) west of the capital, Nairobi, to another hospital for more advanced treatment.

She had been bleeding for eight days following the abortion.

Judge Nicholas Ombija said the court had established "that the accused caused the death of the deceased" and convicted him of murder.